Insignia NS-CNV10 Automotive GPS Receiver

I've owned a couple of Garmin navigators and like them. I bought the Insignia because the price was right, used it for a couple of days to make sure everything was working correctly, then sold it at a profit. So my review is based on pretty limited usage.

The ability to connect wirelessly is good, but for my needs it's a bit of a frill that I can do without. I live in a fairly small town, so the traffic reports always said (correctly) that no congestion was detected. In a large city the traffic reports might be valuable enough to justify the added cost of the connectivity. There's a gee whiz factor to sending an address from the computer to the navigator, and to find a new business that isn't in the navigator's database. But I don't think I would use those features much.

The Insignia is somewhat less chatty than the Garmin. For example, the Insignia doesn't say anything when it recalculates the route, while the Garmin would say "recalculating". I guess I prefer the Garmin approach, but that's partly because I'm used to it. (Neither navigator knows the best route to my house, so they always have to recalculate the last quarter mile or so.)

The Insignia takes longer to power up and find the satellites than the Garmin.

For the area around my house, at least, the Insignia does a better job of pronouncing street names correctly.

I'll take the Garmin over the Insignia, especially if I have to pay suggested retail prices, but the Insignia is a nice enough navigator. If you need the Internet connectivity, then the Insignia is the right choice for you.

if you are planning to buy this gps, dont! It is the worst gps i've ever had. It always hang up most of the time. I tried to use on just a 6 mile trip and there it goes, it stop giving direction i programmed so i have to start entering the same destination five times just to reach my final destination, it means i have to stop five times on a six mile trip just to enter the same address, whew! thats very inconvinient i tell you. i suggest you spend a litte bit more and invest in a more reliable brand for a less headache.

The mapping works pretty well if you know your address. It would be nice if there were some more features with rout preferences. You can pick what you want to exclude (highways, ferries) etc... But you can't set what you would prefer. Also the points of interest are horrible, there is virtually nothing in points of interest. I did not buy the 100 dollars a year for the google service. That would have probably made the points of interest much better.

All in all, not bad for the 20 bucks I paid for it.

I initially liked this GPS because it had many of the same functions as some of its more expensive competitors. Internet capability allowed us to send addresses from Google right to the GPS. I loved that it is portable. No need to stick it on the windshield or dash. Fits right in your pocket without any worries. This works well with the 3.5" screen. however not sure if the fit would be so great on the bigger models. The screen was easy to see in the day or night. Battery life is supposed to be 2 hours, however mine lasted almost three. The maps have almost always been on point with the exception of a foot or two. My main draw was also the price. Can be picked-up refurbished for as little as $40. That is a nice savings compared to the $100-$180 counterparts. Only feature missing was Mp3, however I have enough mp3 gadgets so missing it here was just fine.

Thank You!

2Maxmart

I needed a GPS system and thought that this could be the right small system that I could use. It is a refurbished item and it looks and works like new. I especially like that I can get my directions from Google maps and send them to my system.